Hasbro's Battleship movie may be an early contender for the silliest movie of 2012 — and the first trailer seems to have provoked near-universal hilarity — but everybody involved seems to be taking it pretty seriously, at least.

Here's a trailer for Battleship, a movie based on the classic board game, but really in name…
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And they have an actual reason why you have to put the pins into the board and guess at the location of the enemy ships — the eeeeeevil aliens put up a huge mysterious energy dome over the ocean, which blocks all radar and futzes with your communications. So the super-experienced professional naval officers have no choice but to use guesswork to find their targets, until they sink the enemy's battleship.

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UGO visited the set of this masterpiece in the making, and just put up a super-detailed report, which includes some new hints about the aliens. And it turns out there are four different types of alien spacecraft, which the filmmakers gave nicknames, after the members of the Beatles. (Presumably the "Pete Best" crashlanded on its way to Earth.) John Lennon is a giant flying bug that comes out of the ocean and shoots a "sonic pulse array" weapon. Paul McCartney is a helicopter, that also looks somewhat insectoid, and shoots a "sonic pulse cannon." George Harrison is a bit more confusing — the UGO article compares it with a Klingon Bird of Prey, but also likens it to a vagina dentata. And Ringo Starr is a sort of alien aircraft carrier, with different colored sections on its deck. Both George and Ringo have weapons that can launch "pegs," which is presumably just what it sounds like. Like in the board game.

(Oh, and a fifth ship is the smaller T-shaped Regent Ship, a command module which has tentacles connecting down to the sea floor.)

All of the alien ships sound as though they need seawater as a power source, which is why the aliens have come to Earth, or at least why they want to fight on the ocean.

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And UGO also saw some sketches of the actual aliens, whom the producers are calling "Thugs." They're big bruisers, sort of like Kilowog from the recent Green Lantern film, except that they have cybernetic knees and arms. Some of the sketches looked more like zombies. And one had exposed bones all over its face, while another had a sick goatee.

All in all, it sounds like our fears that this would be another ridiculous toy tie-in movie are completely unfounded. The alien ships fire pegs! What's not to love? Tons more details at the link. [UGO]